I wanted to write another quick note about Pablo (not his real name). If you have read previous posts then you will know who I am talking about. I feel that he is becoming accustomed to the medication he is taking. He doesn’t seem as tired, but his mother tells me that he has a big sleep after he gets home from the venue. He isn’t as agitated as he was, he can concentrate on his tasks and he has no problems following instructions. He is definitely a different child now, compared to before he was on the medication. I think I am now seeing a few more positive effects of the drugs that he is taking.

The drug he has been prescribed is for schizophrenia. The schizophrenic symptoms that he had displayed have been reduced greatly. Because I am no expert I have done some research. The symptoms such as: problems paying attention, impaired memory and reasoning, speech impairments, inappropriate or flattened expression of emotion, poor social skills, and depressed mood, many of which he had displayed, have definitely lessened. There was also an incident today where he hit another child. This was the first time that we had seen violence from him in a few weeks. We found out later that his mother had forgotten to give him his dose of medication last night.

So my position from the top of the fence has moved slightly towards the side of it being appropriate for this child to be given medication for his condition. In a world where I didn’t have to do anything else, I would be extremely motivated to accompany an unmedicated Pablo and see what was possible to achieve without antipsychotic drugs. But, unfortunately this is not that world, I do have to do other things, and I’m sure that his mother wouldn’t be interested in taking him off the drugs to give it a shot.

To be continued….